Many known article carriers for mounting to motor vehicle body panels include a pair of spaced side rails and crossbars supported or carried by the panel mounted rails. While many previous crossbars were mounted only at discrete positions along the side rail, fixed positioning of the rail limits the utility of the carrier. In particular, the luggage rack may not be adapted to fit particularly sized luggage or the like without remounting the rails to the vehicle panel.
Improvements permitting variation in the position of each crossbar with respect to the side rails are often difficult to operate. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,681 to Ingram discloses a luggage carrier adapted for sliding adjustment in a carrier track. The bracket is particularly shaped to fit within the restricted opening track. The restricted opening retains the bracket within the track along the length of the rail. Nevertheless, the locking mechanism for securing the bracket in a fixed position along the rail requires the use of a special tool. The tool not only has a special shape for fitting within an actuating member of the locking mechanism, but also requires a particular handle shape in order to reach the actuating member that is recessed within an opening at the bottom of the bracket.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,162,755 and 4,274,570 disclose luggage carriers in which a crossrail is supported by a pair of stanchions in U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,570, each stanchion includes a member that is captured within a track formed in a rail member. Moreover, while the locking mechanism is actuated by a turnable wheel, the wheel is exposed exteriorly of the sides of the stanchion so that it is accessible even though hidden below the top of the stanchion. As a result, the turnable wheel protrudes beyond the styling lines of the crossrail stanchion. U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,755 discloses a luggage carrier with a threaded stem carried by the turnable wheel and engageable in the threaded recess of a mounting plate secured by fastening or the like to the vehicle panel, and does not have an elongated track for changing the position of the crossrail on the vehicle panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,138 to Cucheran discloses bracket members supporting a crossbar laterally between and secured adjacent opposite ends to bracket members carried upon slats secured to the motor vehicle. The brackets disclose actuating means pivotable about a fixed pivot shaft and within the vertical plane extending through the restraining bar. The actuating means is carried within a recessed portion of the bracket member and is manually movable between the locked position where an outer surface is flush with the outer surface of the bracket. A locking means is responsive to the actuating means for raising a hook member in to tight engagement with the rail. The actuating means is extended outwardly beyond the outer surface of the bracket member when the locking means is disengaged. The hook member of the actuating means is separately constructed from the stanchion members and thus does not form a split stanchion clamp jaw that structurally enclose the rail within portions of the bracket.
An article carrier shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,453 to Pudney et al. includes a crossbar support that employs a retractable lock pin selectively engageable in a plurality of longitudinally spaced apertures in a side rail. A pushbutton is exposed at the outer surface of the support member. While the support member has surfaces that mate with surfaces of the rail to support a load, the forces exerted against the rack during vehicle operation tending to separate the support member from the rail must be resisted by the retractable lock pin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,348 discloses rail structure in which the side rails are provided with a lip engaged by a clamp on the crossrail. A first member of the cross rail clamp lays over a portion of the rail lip to support down loads imposed on the crossrail. A second member pivots at one end with respect to the first member to move the other end into and out of engagement with the lower surface of the rail lip. A threaded adjuster clamps the upper and lower members against the rail lip but is hidden beneath the rail, or reduced in size and recessed within the exposed exterior surface of one of the clamp members. Thus, the clamp actuator is constructed in a way tending to obscure access to the adjuster in order to avoid interference with styling.